


the last dance

by strawberryymilktea



Category: school for good and evil
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, Tsfgae, sfgae, sge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26997703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryymilktea/pseuds/strawberryymilktea
Summary: 𝗦𝗙𝗚𝗔𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗖✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  𝘪 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Relationships: Tagatha - Relationship, hestadil - Relationship, nicphie, tophie - Relationship
Comments: 25
Kudos: 24





	1. crocodile tears mean crocodile wrinkles

Currently, Agatha was at the doctors office. She despised it there for many reasons but especially because it reminded her of her deceased mother and that wound, after even a year, was too painful to bear. And it made matters even worse seeing as it was her death anniversary. Even though she absolutely could not stand the thought of even being in the waiting room, it was better than being at the castle. 

Tedros, knowing full well that Agatha needed love and support earlier, shunned her and said he needed to tend to some other royal matter, claiming that it was important. Agatha knew that this kind of behavior was not like him at all, but she had enough of him and stormed out, angry tears dripping down her face. If she was being honest with herself, she wanted desperately to yank him out of there and take a day off, but he would have been too angry with her. Not that she cared, anyway, she could easily out-perform him in terms of being angry, and they barely spent any time together anymore as it was, and Agatha didn't want to damage whatever they had any further. Him being mad at her would've meant that the two of them actually interacted, but no, Agatha still had her dignity.

She had also noticed that Tedros had been cutting a considerably large chunk out of his day to 'chat' with Sophie. Agatha had her suspicions but she knew that Tedros truly loved her.. 'right?', she questioned herself. As for Sophie, well her and Agatha had a rocky past when it came to the specimen we call boys. And even after all of the drama, the pair had made up and Sophie understood that Tedros wasn't hers. Yet, Agatha still felt her gut telling her that something was off about those two.

She pulled herself out of her stupor and wiped the moistness off her hands on the smooth fabric of her gown. Lady Gremlaine had basically forced the dress upon Agatha saying that "If she were to go anywhere looking any worse, she might as well rub some dirt on her face to complete the look" Agatha decided that, that was not something she wanted to argue about and decided that it would be much easier to conform to the hags way without a fight. 

As to why she was at the doctors, oh that's because she had been having symptoms for, well, something she supposed. Namely, fatigue, shortness of breath, and she had gotten extremely thin, as if she wasn't already, and for the amount of food she consumes, she should most definitely not be that thin. 'Fast metabolism' she thought reluctantly.

Suddenly the nurse came out "Lady Agatha?" She snapped out of her thoughts and smoothed the crease that had etched its way into her forehead, took a shaky breath and stood up. "That's me". "Please follow me." The nurse started a fast paced walk down the pristine white corridors and stopped in front of a scraggly old oak door. It most definitely did not look like any of the doctors offices that Agatha had ever been to, but she couldn't ask any questions because she had to catch her breath. The nurse told her to sit down on the plush chair in front of the desk. The nurse then explained that the doctor would be back within five minutes then shut the door, and left.

Agatha fidgeted with a half-bitten hangnail and cast a weary look at the clock. Two minutes had passed. She looked back down again and suddenly the door opened. She looked back and was greeted with warm brown eyes. "Hello Lady Agatha, ever sorry to keep you waiting." She broke eye contact and mumbled a 'no problem.' She made her way over to sit at her desk and Agatha noticed a plaque with her doctors name. Dr. Faisal. 'Hmm, that sounds familiar' she thought. 

"Lets see what the problem is" she said, looking down at the chart on the desk. Her shiny amber 0rbs skimmed over the slightly wrinkled paper and slowly but surely her face turned a very pale shade of white. She looked up at Agatha and swallowed before talking, "these symptoms may be something very serious so I need you to answer in the most honest way, okay?" Agatha looked up with alarm before finding her voice and saying "Yes."

"Well, erm, have you had any odd looking or feeling bumps anywhere on your body found in the past, maybe, lets say, two months?" Agatha pondered it and her hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it subconsciously made its way over to her upper right arm. She felt a surprisingly large bump and she gasped in shock. She was dumbfounded as to how she had not noticed it there before. 

Dr. Faisal rushed out of her seat to inspect it. She shooed Agathas hand away as she prodded the lump. She stood up slowly and started fiddling with the tips of her hair. 'Not very sanitary for someone who works in a Doctor's office' Agatha though with a tiny smirk. Dr. Faisal walked back to her chair in a stunned silence and sat down gingerly.

"Agatha my dear, 

I'm afraid you have cancer."


	2. what is going to happen

Agatha was in shock.

It never occurred to her that her life would be cut this short. She had taken it for granted. She would never get married to the only person who had accepted her and loved her throughout everything. She would never even get the option to start a family of her own. 

She didn't even notice that she was holding in her tears until they threatened to choke her. 

She wiped her face, stood up, forced a quick "Sorry" out of her already closing throat, and ran. She heard the doctor get up off of her chair and yell for her to wait, but she couldn't. Her legs had a mind of their own. 

She still didn't know where she was going to go when she burst out of the entrance. She looked around frantically for a place where she could collect her thoughts and be alone. 

There were people everywhere. Too many. She felt her breathing pick up and she started to shake. 

Then, without warning, her body shut down and she fainted. The last things she remembered hearing were her strangled attempts to get air. 

タイムスキップ

She heard voices. 

"Yeah, I just found her lying right outside... will she be okay?"   
Somewhere in Agatha's muddled brain, she managed to identify the voice as the voice of the nurse who had called her earlier. 

"Yes, she should be fine, I assume the news was too much for her and her body couldn't handle the added stress."

This was enough to make Agatha stir. She slowly opened her eyes and adjusted to her settings. 

'Oh great' she thought. She was back in the room where she received the news of her untimely demise. 

"Oh she's up", the doctor whispered to the nurse, and gently nudged her out of the room. 

"Hey, how are you feeling?", she said with a painfully sympathetic look on her face. "I'm fine, I guess.", Agatha responded with a surprisingly emotion-less tone. Then proceeded to tug the blanket that she had been wrapped up in off of herself and sat up. She swung her legs over the cot on which she was now sitting. 

She decided to hear the doctor out, seeing as running away again would probably end up with her passing out again. "Sooo.." she started. "Oh right." Dr. Faisal said and hurried over and accompanied Agatha to the chair where she sat the first time she was in the room. She then went around the desk and sat in her own chair and grabbed the scattered papers of her patients report. She cleared her throat and said, "You seem like the type who doesn't like to beat around the bush so I'll get straight to the point. " She looked Agatha in the eyes and continued, "I'm afraid that from just looking at your tumor," Agatha's eyes drifted down to her arm. "...that you only have thirteen, fourteen days at the most, left to live. " 

Agatha snapped her eyes back up to her doctor. She knew she was going to die eventually, but she wasn't expecting that it would be so soon. She felt her heart drop into the pits of her stomach. To her surprise, though, she didn't shed a single tear. No, this news was more numbing. She wasn't sure about how she was supposed to feel, she supposed this situation was sort of ironic. 'Oh yes, we are finally free to start our lives, no interruptions, and this happens.'

Agatha didn't even know she was laughing until she heard "Agatha, Agatha, are you okay? Why are you laughing?" At this point Agatha was cackling so hard that she couldn't breathe. She knew that tears were sure to follow, but she couldn't help but enjoy this feeling for a bit longer. 

Slowly after a while, once her laughing stopped and was reduced to only the occasional snort, she looked up to her doctor with an almost sheepish look and apologized. "I- um, " she wasn't really sure what she was apologizing for, she was the one dying after all. She decided that it would be easier to just say sorry for interrupting her mid-sentence. "..am sorry for interrupting you." 

"Please don't apologize dear," Dr. Faisal said with a small smile, with the tiniest hint of amusement. "You seem to have come to terms with your condition and I have no additional notes besides that you should tell the ones closest to you sooner or later, it will be painful either way. Oh, and you will feel more symptoms later on, probably just getting more and more tired, so I would suggest eating healthy, or healthier than what you currently consume." She said with a pointed look, which made Agatha squirm in her seat. 'Yeah right, I'm still eating spaghetti.' She thought. 'If I'm going to die, I might as well do whatever I want.' 

Dr. Faisal continued, "and we will be meeting next week on Wednesday to check up on your condition." She looked up from her notes and gave Agatha probably the tenth sympathetic smile that afternoon. This time Agatha smiled back. It wasn't completely genuine, but what did she expect, she was going to die. 

Agatha still had more things to go through, mentally, physically, emotionally. But for now she was fine, or as fine as she could be. 

She mustered a "Goodbye then, thank you. " and with that she left. While walking down the corridors, she felt the familiar feelings of anxiety bubbling up. 'Oh my god, oh my actual god, I'm going to have to tell Sophie, I'm going to have to tell Tedros.' 

'Well,' she thought next, 'maybe I don't have to tell either of them.' If she was being completely honest, she wasn't really one who was good with words, and frankly, she didn't know if she would be able to deal with the emotional turmoil that would be her best friend and lover's reactions. She would obviously tell them, but she just couldn't today. 'Okay I won't tell them' she thought.

'For now.'


	3. not the reaction we were hoping for

'It's okay Agatha, you can do it. Just walk up to him and say it.'  
Currently, Agatha was sitting on the grass next to the koi pond. She had gotten back from the doctors without another incident and now she was contemplating her existence in life.

"Ugh." She let out an audible groan and started plucking the poor grass out of its comfortable home in the dirt. 

She had quite a bit of time to think on the carriage ride back to the castle, but she mostly just fidgeted around and bit her nails back into nubs. She honestly had no idea if she was even going to tell Tedros or anyone for that matter. This was so frustrating to the point that she got exhausted from thinking. Her mind just needed a break.

She stared longingly at the koi and wished she could've free like them. She longed for the comfort of being left alone without people constantly nagging her or trying to get her to open up. That just wasn't who she was. She sighed.

Her whole life she had to deal with people expecting her to be somebody else, anyone but her true self. They called her different because she kept to herself, they called her evil because she liked the color black, they even shunned her from where she truly belonged because she wasn't the societal standard of beauty. All these people beating her down until it became suffocating . But she overcame these things, she showed everyone that beauty isn't what you look like, its about who you truly are on the inside. She inspired people, but this didn't mean that she was accepted, oh gods no. She still was given weird looks like she didn't belong and at the bare minimum, was tolerated. She would never be good enough and she knew it.

She sighed again and closed her eyes. She just wanted to lay down and feel the wind wrap her up in its arms, but she knew she couldn't. If she didn't tell anyone now, she definitely wasn't going to do it. Ever. 

She let herself get taken away to the depths of her mind for only a moment. It was surprisingly calm. Tranquil. This honey-like state of mind pulled her down, and before she could protest, she was out.

彼女の頭の中で

(Inside of her mind)  
'It's nice in here', she thought. It was completely and utterly silent, and that was okay. She just stretched out and relaxed. She could see the stars. All of the constellations were as clear as day. It was peaceful and she didn't want to do anything to disrupt that. This would be the ideal time to think about everything she had been meaning to, but she didn't want to think about anything at all and instead shut everything out and drifted off.

タイムスキップ

She felt a shiver go up her spine. 

Agatha sat up abruptly, breathing hard, and looked around. That was when she realized that she couldn't see anything. It was completely dark outside and no one bothered to look for her and tell her. It's fine, she was used to this.

She sat up and rubbed at her eyes. She made her way into a crouching position and finally stood up. She yawned as she tried to locate her shoes. She blinked a couple of times and she knew for sure what she saw. Her shoes were in the koi pond. 

She decided that there were more important things to care about and just went barefoot. She spotted the stones that spiraled up to the back castle doors and slowly trudged along the path. 

It was a nice feeling. The icy wind was raking through her hair and she kept stepping on pebbles, but it was truly magnificent out there that night. The stars shone brighter than when she was in her head, and she could see fireflies lighting the night before her eyes. 

It was hard to pull her eyes away from that breathtaking scene, but eventually they did on their own and she went back to the path. 

Sooner or later, she was at the door. She almost raised her hand to knock when she realized that she lived there and that it would be silly to do such a thing. 

She opened the doors to the back kitchen. There weren't many people out at this hour, and the ones that were didn't give her a second look.

She thought about asking for dinner when she noticed that she didn't have much of an appetite anyway. She knew what she had to do and it was turning her stomach into twists. 

It hadn't even been a full day since she heard the news, but this is the part that she dreaded the most. 

She was going to tell Tedros.

She composed herself, with the exception of her teeth chattering every now and then. She made her way to the foot of the stairs and sunk down onto the first step. Did she really want to do this? 

There was no definite answer to that, but she knew, deep down, that once she told someone, this weight would finally be lifted off of her chest. Thinking of this brought the tiniest smile to her face. She stood up and begrudgingly ascended up the stairs. 

She couldn't help but let that smile of hers grow. This, oddly enough, was making her fairly happy. She reached the top and looked around. She was in the West Wing. 'Perfect.' she thought. Tedros' room was right around here somewhere.

As she made her way around the hallways, seeing some familiar sights, she heard a faint giggling noise. She paused for a second, craning her neck to try to hear what direction it was coming from. 

It turns out that it was only a few doors to her right. 

Right where Tedros' room was. 

She really couldn't help the increasing anxiety as she made her way towards the door. She reached for the handle, slowly turning, as if thinking that it would stop time.

The door creaked open.

And there was Tedros...

Kissing Sophie.


	4. that’s rough, buddy

The door creaked open

And there was Tedros...

Kissing Sophie.

Agatha felt the tears fill up her eyes. She blinked, once to make sure she was seeing this correctly, and twice to let her tears spill over.

She made a tiny whimpering noise, not unlike one of a puppy who had just gotten kicked.

Tedros heard and lifted his lips from Sophie's, drool still connecting their open mouths. Agatha noticed that his cheeks were red and that his hands were on Sophie's hips. 

'What else was going to happen if I hadn't intervened?' She thought.

She looked over to Sophie. She was uncharacteristically picking at her nails and had a look of immense guilt on her features. She couldn't even look the raven-haired girl in the eyes. Tedros on the other hand...

He looked right into Agatha's eyes. He picked up on the sorrow hidden beneath. What he didn't notice though, was how long she had been hiding it. 

He took a step forward. 

"Agatha wait I-"

She interrupted. 

"No." She said with a stern voice. He was taken aback 'What does she mean no?'

He sighed and rolled his eyes at her. "We are going to have to talk about this eventually." He said in a snarky voice. 

Agatha gasped, that horrible dry crackling of her throat brought Tedros back to his senses. Her face scrunched up and she lifted her hand to her mouth, to keep her broken sobs from escaping her lips.

"Agatha, I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me-"

She gave him the scariest glare she could manage with her impossibly glossy eyes. She couldn't keep up this facade. She would soon crumble and she couldn't. Not now.

"You know what?" she started, "I can't believe I was stupid enough to let myself think that you actually loved me." She scoffed and felt her sadness melting away into anger. 

"Agatha it wasn't what it looked like, I swear I would never do anything like thi-"

"THEN WHAT THE HELL DID I WALK INTO?" 

Agatha wasn't known for raising her voice when it came to arguments, but there were too many emotions flowing through her system that her brain settled on anger. It was the most logical option in her mind. 

There was a dead silence. Tedros slowly lowered his eyes from hers. He was too shame-ridden to keep this act.

"That's what I thought." Finished Agatha in a thick voice. She turned around to leave when Tedros rushed forward and grabbed her wrist. 

She almost stayed, because no matter how mad she was, she was touch starved, and now he was finally giving her the warmth she craved. 

Almost.

She roughly shook his hand off of hers and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. 

"Stay the hell away from me." was all she said before she stormed out of the room.

Tedros stood in a stunned silence. His hand slowly made his way up to his collar. He could feel the little heat that Agatha's hand gave off, fading away.

"So about that-" Sophie started, looking up at him.

"Get out." he responded. 

"Wait what-" Sophie began, standing up and making her way over to him.

"Get out." He growled at her. 

"Tedros honey, you don't have to act anymore, she's gone." She reached over and grabbed his hand. 

That was too much.

"I SAID GET OUT OF MY FUCKING ROOM YOU WITCH." He screamed at her, his veins nearly popping out of his face. 

She slowly backed away, fear filling her eyes. She reached behind her and felt the doorknob.

He gave her a look and she fled. 

He took a deep breath and closed and locked the door.   
He heard the shattering before he felt it. He had just punched the mirror. Hard.

He looked down at his fist, which was now speckled with blood and tiny shards of glass. He smiled a grotesque smile and did it again. And again and again, until he physically could not. He looked into the mirror with horrified eyes, to see a monster, distorted with the broken glass. His anger wore off and became sadness.

His salty tears reminded him of how he acted towards the love of his life. 'Tedros why are you such a screw up?' He heard his father's voice.

He turned his head frantically trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. It took him a couple of minutes to realize that the voice was in his head. It wasn't real.   
He calmed down a little bit and swallowed his pride.

He knew he messed up. Big time. 

And with that thought fueling him, he picked himself up from his pity party on the floor and decided to find the person who had every right to be self pitying, but he knew she probably wasn't. That just wasn't who she was. 

He dusted off his hands, which still hurt from the cuts, and left to look for Agatha.

He just hoped that she had it in her to hear him out and forgive him.

私たちの好きな女の子に戻る

As soon as Agatha stepped into the hallway, she knew where to go. It was her own little safe space that no one knew where to find. 

As she started her trek up to the astronomy tower, she felt her rage subside into emptiness. Her attempt to tell someone resulted in a potentially unfixable argument. 

She felt her heart sink as she thought back to what she saw. Something wasn't clicking in her brain. Her mind wasn't allowing her to process this new information. So much had happened in only one day and it was traumatizing, to say the least. 

She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and she had reached the spiraling staircase that led up into her favorite room in the whole entire castle. She could look at the stars and sit in peace & quiet. It reminded her of Merlin's celestium. The memory of her dear old wizard friend sent a pang to her chest. 

Oh how she wished she could have even one talk with him. It had been so long since they had spoken, Merlin was always exploring the Endless Woods even more, and it seemed like he didn't have much time for them anymore. 

She didn't blame him, of course. He was free to live his own life, separate from his acquaintances. She still felt longing, though. He always knew what to say and was one of the few people that Tedros actually listened to. 

"Ugh" 

Why was life so complicated? She just wanted time to stop, only for a while because she wouldn't be here for much longer. She had never desired to be one who defied death and lived well into her hundreds, but she did want to grow up, to experience love. She didn't show it on the outside, but she really secretly a softie on the inside. She treasured every moment she got to spend with her friends, even before she knew of her cancer. She had gone through so much, yet nothing comes from that. 

She had reached the top of the stairs. She was breathing quite heavily. 

She panted then reached up and pushed open the trapdoor and pulled herself up. 

This room never failed to amaze her. Her deep brown orbs sparkled in excitement as she made a 360 looking around the room. There was a small bookshelf stuffed with old scrolls, charting stars. There was a little dark blue ornamental rug with tiny golden stars and constellations adorning the front. There was a big old dusty blue velvet sofa on the opposite side of the bookshelf that was very worn in before Agatha had even discovered this room. It was small, but meaningful . 

And her favorite part, the balcony. She stepped forward and opened the glass doors that led outside. She put her elbows on the rail and stared longingly at the stars, just as she had with the koi fish. 

This time, though, she didn't think, she tuned out her brain and simply enjoyed the beautiful sight set before her. 

After a good while, she noticed her eyes getting droopy and made her way over to the couch after closing the doors. 

She plopped herself down, not even caring that she didn't have a blanket- her gown would most likely suffice- 

and with that, she was out.


	5. haha yep, ‘just friends’

"Psst, pssst, Agatha wake up."

Hester shoved her off of the couch and she landed with a thump.

"Wha-what's going on?" Agatha asked groggily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Nothing, actually, I was just trying to find you because I heard about what that living piece of shit named Tedros did." The red-eyed witch said with a hint of disgust in her tone.

Agatha slumped her shoulders as a grumpy look spread its way across her face. "Yeah, thank you so much for reminding me." She said with an eye-roll. She slowly turned her gaze back up, meeting Hesters, and grumbled out a little apology.

"Sorry, it's just that I really could go without talking about that for a while."

Hester simply nodded and reached her hand forward. Agatha took this as a sign and she grabbed ahold of it.

The force that Hester used to help her up nearly tore Agatha's arm out of her socket.

While Agatha tried to relieve her shoulder of the pain it had just witnessed, Hester scratched her neck with a semi-sheepish look and said "Sorry, I'm not really, uh, well, used to physical contact." She looked away.

Before she knew it, Agatha reached her hand out to cup Hester's cheek and faced it towards her. "No, really, its all right, I know exactly what you are talking about." She suddenly thought of all of the times that Tedros had refused her touch and how she hadn't gotten a proper hug in a very long time, and that ache of yearning for any contact came rushing back.

Both girls couldn't deny that they did feel something stirring up inside of them. Perhaps for Agatha, it was just missing the touch of any living thing, craving that sense of security that was seriously lacking in her life.

For Hester though, this was something different, something.. sweet? She had those annoying little winged creatures flitting about in her stomach and bouncing off of her rib cage and making their way to her throat, where they stayed. Her eyes widened and she pushed herself away, turning, in an attempt to hide her lightly pink dusted face.

"Yeah yeah whatever, thanks." She replied with a choked voice.

Agatha reached her hand out again, but this time it was to turn her around.

She gasped as she saw the rapidly spreading blush on the witch's face. Her hand flew to her mouth as she tried not to do the same.

But alas, her pale skin betrayed her and slowly started to turn the color of a strawberry.

They both chuckled awkwardly, attempting to start a new conversation or at least make eye contact, but that wasn't really working out for either of them.

This was a first for Hester, as she had never really felt flustered around anyone other than Anadil. That was only once though. Towards Agatha, she felt this weird sensation starting in her chest. It felt like there was this spark of warmth that kept spreading throughout her body, from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.

Agatha. She knew this wasn't right. She had a boyfriend for Christ's sake. She couldn't possibly be feeling the things she felt, it wasn't ethical.

She couldn't deny that she hadn't thought of this before. Her and Hester had been fairly close in their school years. They sometimes snuck into the Blue Forest to talk, whether is was in their Good and Evil school or their Girls and Boys school. They always had a connection, a certain comfort, between them and they could talk about things that they couldn't even begin to think of telling other people. While they weren't always on the same side as each other, they always supported each other, through thick and thin.

No one knew about this, not Anadil, Dot, Tedros, or even Sophie. This had been Agatha and Hester's safe place, and their safe place alone.

Before she knew it, Agatha's eyes started to water. All she wanted was for someone to love her. It wouldn't even have to be a romantic love, it could be strictly platonic. She just needed someone, who, at any given time, would always be there. Someone there to make the unbearable silence comfortable, and who, reluctantly, let her put her head on their shoulder when she cried.

And this person, she realized, was right there all along.

It was Hester.

She gasped and looked up. She noticed every detail about the girl in front of her. How her eyes were blinking rapidly, how she was nibbling at her thumb nail uncontrollably, and how her feet were tapping to an imperceptible beat.

Agatha's pupils dilated, and she took a step forward. She knew that what she was about to do was unimaginable, unspeakable, but she was being pulled forward, beyond control.

Her arm slowly raised itself and placed her hand on Hesters cheek. Hester lifted her eyes to glance at what Agatha was doing, still lost in thought.

As she slowly snapped out of it, she began wondering what the bug-eyed girl was doing. It wasn't as if she wanted her to stop.. actually she wanted to continue..

Agatha started to lean in, and Hester did too.

It was if they were magnets, unable to stop moving towards each other until they touched.

Suddenly they looked each other in the eyes, conveying a look of longing and a little spark of lust.

Before they knew it, they were liplocked in a warm embrace. Their lips moved together in harmony, as if they were handmade for each other.

Agatha's hands made their way up to Hester's cheeks, while Hesters were planted firmly on Agatha's hips.

Soon, and to both of their dismay, they pulled away, due to the lack of oxygen. They were both panting slightly, and Hester had a look of utter astonishment on her face. She has never experienced something as intimate as this with another person before. Her fingers slowly made their way up to her lips, which were still tingling, before casting an expectant look up to Agatha.

Agatha however, felt empty. It wasn't as if she hadn't enjoyed it, but it was the realization that she was just as bad as Tedros, if not worse.

She looked up, her guilty eyes meeting the witch's. She couldn't help but feel that hole on her heart spread more. A few tears slipped out before she muttered a barely comprehensible

_"I am so sorry."_

And with that remark, she yanked herself out of Hesters grip and fled the room, leaving Hester too shell-shocked to process anything that just happened, her fingers still on her lips.

_**✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧** _

_**[A/N]** _

_**{ Sorry if this is absolute cringe. In all honesty, this is my first time even attempting to write a kissing scene so pls don't make fun of me :( }** _


	6. oh, thank fucking god

_Agatha ran and ran, straight out the door, not caring that she left someone behind. Her thoughts were clouded with guilt. If she licked her lips, she could still taste the residue of Hesters saliva, which had an almost minty taste, as if she had just brushed her teeth._

_She had felt more from that kiss than she would ever like to admit. The way that their two mouths moved as one, the passion that the both of them had never experienced before. It was extremely eye-opening. Agatha was never one to label herself, and had quite frankly, never questioned anything about her sexuality. She really didn't even think it was possible to have a person like her in the first place._

_But as she pondered this notion, she realized that she was equally attracted to the same gender. She didn't feel guilty or ashamed, but instead felt relief._

_She always knew that something in her was different. Even though she herself didn't care about the looks of others, she couldn't deny that women were just hot. Someone please bring some water for this thirsty bitch._

_She chuckled quietly to herself in spite of the flurry of emotions going haywire in her mind._

_Her feet suddenly felt wet and she glanced up._

_She was met with the sight of a swing. Nothing special, just a wooden swing on an old, but sturdy, oak tree._

_She could tell that the swing hadn't been in use for a long time. It didn't necessarily look old, but the white paint was chipping here and there, and the rope binding it to the tree was the tiniest bit frayed._

_She kicked off her clumps and sat down._

_She needed a break from emotions. She desperately needed some way to cut herself off from anything and everything._

_Her feet boosted her off of the ground and put her in the air. She just shoved all thoughts out of her mind and swung her legs back and forth._

_Back and forth._

_Back and forth until she felt the need to jump. If only the night sky was capable of sucking her up._

_Her legs swung back for the last time as she prepared for her jump._

_She felt herself fly forwards and let go._

_She went higher than imaginable. She felt the breeze rush through her horribly greasy hair and past her face._

_She enjoyed the feeling of being in the air for a few seconds before she had to land._

_The grassy ground was coming closer and closer_ to her feet.

_She saw her feet hit the ground, but felt nothing. 'What's happening?' she thought. Her mind was going blank._

_She started to see flashing colors and heard static noises getting louder._

_"Agatha" the noises called._

_"Agathaa" the now more masculine voice said, in an sing-songey way._

_She tried calling out to it, but to no avail, her voice was stuck in her throat. She reached her hands towards it and tried desperately to grad ahold of whatever was speaking._

_**"Wake up."** _

Agatha sucked in a huge breath and jumped to her feet. She looked around, expecting to be outside by the swing, but found herself back in the astronomy tower room.

She was shaking like a leaf and sweating buckets.

Her confused thoughts invaded her system and questioned what was real and what was fake.

She pushed those aside and thought.

Once she concentrated enough, it happened.

It was like a spark igniting a fire.

The floodgates opening, her memories storming through.

Everything from the past couple days was recalled quite quickly, then her thoughts slowed down, bringing up her dream.

'Do I really think of her that way?' Agatha thought. 'I don't think so, but I am definitely not straight ' Her face morphed into a confused expression while she tried to figure this out. Eventually, she just shrugged her shoulders, putting it away for later.

Her dream was definitely something that unbelievable, on both parts. Neither her nor Hester had the emotional capacity to have been able to kiss each other like that. And even though Agatha was lonely, she was loyal. As much as she wanted to spite her lover, she knew that she would never do so.

That didn't mean she didn't want to though. Now that she some what sorted out her feelings, she felt the need to explore this newfound bisexuality- 'Will people even accept me?' She thought frantically. Everyone knew that despite everything, she didn't care about other people's opinions on her, but this was an exception. She had finally gotten to a place in her life where she trusted more people than just Sophie.

She didn't care about what other people thought, but nothing was worth ruining what she had worked so hard for.

She wasn't going to become that sullen, sunken-cheeked, loner, that she once was. She was going to do whatever it took to maintain her relationships, whatever the cost. Even if that meant hiding her cancer and sexuality.

A little part of her was nagging at her to tell someone. Avoiding things and masking it up as something wasn't good, and inside she knew that. She knew that she was just avoiding things because she was a coward. She was scared and the easiest way to feign confidence, was to hide every single personal thing that screwed with that.

So, even though internally she knew that this was one of the stupidest decisions she could make, her mind was made up. And nothing was going to change that, nothing _could_.

She was pacing the floor, her nails being bitten to the nubs that they had been for the most of her life. Her eyes kept dilating, focusing on one object such a crazed intensity, then looking at another with no fire behind her glare whatsoever.

She was mid-step when she heard it.

A footstep, quickly ascending the spiraling stairs leading to her exact whereabouts.

She slowly turned her head toward the door, her body on edge.

She knew those footsteps. How could she not?

These were the same footsteps that she heard and once before, associated with love.

These were the damned footsteps of the _boy_ she had trusted. With her life. She trusted in him when no body else did, she supported and loved him no matter how absolutely stupid he was.

These were the footsteps of her former partner.

_**Tedros.** _

She waited, anxiously. The seconds ticking in her mind mimicking his footsteps.

_Five, four, three, two.._

_**One** _

She watched as the door handle started to move in a clockwise motion.

As the door slowly started to crack.

Revealing those oh so familiar crystal blue eyes.

Looking

_right at her._

_**[ ✎ ] AUTHOR'S NOTE** _

_**I know my writing is not the best, and I really just want to thank those of you who read this. <3** _


	7. so ‘stay the hell away from me’ has no meaning?

Agatha's unfocused eyes made it hard for her to keep her gaze on _him_. She didn't even want to look, but her instincts wouldn't let her look elsewhere.

His mouth started to move slowly, as if they were in slow motion. Agatha saw him finish the words before her ears registered them.

" _I'm Sorry."_

Immediately her eyes crinkled and she had to take deep breathes to calm herself. Well this wasn't exactly what she was expecting.

She blinked. Once, twice, then turned her stare towards his tantalizing, transpicuous eyes that were brimming with tears. She steeled herself as if she was trying not to fall under his spell and said

"For what exactly?"

She wanted to make sure that he knew the unequivocal reasons for which he was apologizing and if she deemed his amends worthy, she would maybe think about forgiving him. She wasn't sure yet.

Tedros cleared his throat and started speaking with a confident tone, "I'm sorry for kissing Sophie." He then proceeded to straighten up his posture and cock a smirk at her, thinking that he did a marvelous job.

Agatha gave him a 'I know you are dumb, but what the hell was that?' look and when she realized that he wasn't kidding, let out a scoff. She felt the tiniest bit hurt that he didn't even put effort into that, but she mostly felt anger. That was all she had been feeling for the last couple of days. She was sick of being this considerate people pleaser. She needed to take care of herself first, she was the one that was horribly ill and she was the one that got cheated on, not the other way around.

She mustered up the all of the strength that she had left, which, given, was not a lot, but her frustration was fueling her now. In the back of her mind, she knew that she would end up regretting everything, but she absolutely couldn't think, she had to act.

She snapped her head exactly in his direction and started towards him, her clumps muffled by the rug. All the while thinking, 'It's not my job to please him, its not, _its not_.'

Tedros saw her, a furious look on her face, and backed up, back until his shoulders hit the door. He was completely and utterly terrified, his cocky smile fully wiped off of his face.

Agatha raised her finger as to accuse him of something, furrowed her eyebrows and

cried.

She promised herself that she wasn't going to do this, but her emotions, yet again, were taking over. She wanted so desperately to give him a piece of her mind, but the overwhelming need for warmth was too much. Her fragile frame crumpled into his lean one.

They fit together perfectly like a piece of delicately folded origami.

Her sobs shook her body and she started to tremble.

Tedros was shocked. Not once in his life had he ever seen her break. She had always been the strong one, the one to fit everything back into place, the one to comfort him.

And now it was his turn to do that to her.

He held her close and whispered sweet nothings into her ear. He wished he could take back everything he said and did for that matter. All he wanted was for her pain to go away.

She clung to him as he started to play with her hair. She curled up like a cat and her whimpers slowed. Tedros bit his lip to keep himself strong and started to hum. It was an old tune that his mom sang to him when he was just barely a toddler.

Agatha's breathing started to even out and any tension that she had, seeped out of her body like a balloon losing its helium.

Tedros was left sitting uncomfortably, and fortunately, he put aside his own comfort for a minute to focus on his beloved.

His slender fingers grazed her neck as he tilted her face in his direction. He noticed that she looked unnaturally pale, more so than usual and that her cheeks were hollow.

As he began to pull his hand away, he noticed something clinging to his fingers.

This 'thing' was actually multiple strands of raven hair. His face contorted into an expression of confusion as he attempted to figure out where it came from. It took his minuscule brain a minute, then he looked to Agatha's head.

"Oh.", he let out in a small breath.

He cringed a bit as he flicked off the extremely greasy fibers and shook his head. She never brushed her hair, so when his hand was doing it, thats what made it come out. Nothing out of the ordinary.

He returned his attention to her face. It may not be beautiful to others, but to him, she truly was magnificent. The way her onyx hair balanced out her fair skin, the fading freckles she had earned by staying in the sun for too long, reading to her hearts content until the sun set, her cracking lips desperately in need of chapstick, just everything. He knew that she wasn't conventionally beautiful, but again, he didn't care. It may have taken him a while, but he looked on the inside of her, her character. Sure, she was sarcastic, stubborn, unwilling to share, insecure, defensive, and other minor things. Yes, these things were real, no one could deny that, but she retuned the favor. She looked to see what his character was like before even sparing so much as a glance to his looks. She saw the worst qualities of him and was willing to work through it. She saw and loved him for him.

This sudden recollection made him even more upset. He had been pushing her away for all of this time because he was insecure. In himself, in the kingdom, in expecting Agatha to adjust right away to kingdom life without being homesick, just everything. He blew her off when she, the antisocial, uncaring one, wanted his attention. She never did that, it was either the other way around or nothing.

Had he really become so absorbed in perfecting himself that he forgot the person he was doing it for? This downward spiral of self-pity sloughed. He became rigid and guilty as he thought about his actions the previous day.

In all honesty, he didn't know why he did it. He was just beginning to tolerate Sophie's being. There was no way that he actually felt attraction to her, much less feel the need to kiss her. She embodied all of the traits that he hated about himself, and flaunted them. He was jealous, if anything.

The way it was so easy for her to just take all of her bad parts and just simply fashion them into an aura of confidence, as if saying 'Yes, this is me, all of me, if you don't like it, your loss.'

He was mad at the fact that he couldn't do that. All he was able to do was protect himself with opaque cockiness and a superiority complex. It was a way to shield himself. He wasn't able to comprehend the fact that if he showed his true personality, people might actually like him. He had this perfect vision of himself in his mind, built around the thought that that was what people wanted. He used this as a defense to hide himself, but this defense was cracked and fragile.

So that left him with the question: what is going to happen when it finally shatters and falls away?

Tedros was so consumed in his contemplation, that he hadn't noticed that Agatha was snoring. It was incredible that the noise didn't snap him out of it, seeing as they were extremely loud.

As he looked down at her calm form, breathing at a melodic pace, he regretted his choice, his mistake more than ever.

He now understood why she would want to stay away from him for a while. He did what everyone thought was impossible for him, he put himself into her shoes. If he had walked in on her kissing someone who he trusted, he would have been more angry than her. He probably would've had a much more volatile outburst, and looking back on it, the way she handled it was better than what he deserved. The admiration he had for her really made itself known during this reflection.

His eyes started to mist over as he thought of her feelings, 'I should really do this more often.', he thought, a small, sad smile creeping onto his face.

His lower body started to numb, so he realized that it would be best to take Agatha off. He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought himself to his knees. He situated himself so that she was hanging limply off his back and stood up.

He brought his hands to hold on to her legs and reached to turn the doorknob. Before his hand even touched it though, he felt covered in an icky feeling of deja vu. He moved a little, just to test is he felt it right. His eyebrows furrowed as his heart began to fill with unprecedented dread.

Agatha was extremely light, lighter than he had ever felt her. He felt as if there was something that he was missing, a lost piece to the puzzle.

He tried to shake off this uncomfortable feeling, and mostly succeeded, but he just couldn't let go of the feeling that something was off. With a final shake of his head, he finished turning the doorknob.

He walked through the door, making sure to keep ahold on his sleeping princess, and shut it gently behind him.

He looked at the spiraling downward stairs with distaste. He turned his head to check on Agatha, but instead found his way blocked by her head on his shoulder and bit his lip to keep from smiling.

He secured her, once again, and started his descent. The walk down the stairs was easy, for the most part, but there were a few instances where Agatha almost slipped out of his arms.

As he took the last step, he sighed a breath of relief. Now all he had to do was take her to her room.

Her room was on the same wing as him, but a few hallways down. He took a left and started walking.

As he passed a window, he saw that the sun was nearing midday. He walked on for a bit, passed his room, saw a maid- who he attempted waving at, but ended up almost dropping Agatha, tripped on someone’s shoe and stumbled for a few yards, then finally reached her room.

He managed to open her door and set her down on her unmade bed. He thought about changing her into more comfortable clothes, namely pajamas,but decided that neither of the two would be comfortable with that. In attempt to hide his rising blush, he reached over and pulled the blankets over her.

He stepped back to admire his work. Agatha was sprawled across the bed, limbs falling off the edges, and the blanket barely doing its job. He chuckled, he was never the best at tucking people in.

He made his way over to her nightstand and poured her a cup of water from her crystal pitcher.

‘Oh she’ll probably be hungry when she wakes up.’, he thought. He realized that he hadn’t seen her at dinner on the preceding day, and she was in town, so she probably hadn’t eaten lunch that day either, meaning she hadn’t had any food since breakfast yesterday.

Tedros felt his stomach sink. Her seeing him and Sophie probably didn’t help with her appetite either. He made an almost sheepish expression and decided that he would go ask the chef to make her pasta, with _extra_ cheese. ‘That way she will maybe hear me out.’, he thought, with a hopeful mindset.

And with that, he left the room.


	8. amends made with pasta

As she arose from her slumber, Agatha reached her hand to her eyes to wipe her grogginess away, but missed, and to her demise, fell to the ground with a resounding thump.

It's safe to say that that thoroughly made her come to her senses.

She took a minute to look around. She was in her room, much to her confusion. She didn't remember walking down here on her own and the last thing she remembered was crying and falling into Tedros' arms. After that, it was a blur, she remembered being warm, then succumbing to her fatigue.

That meant that Tedros had to have carried her to her room.

Her hands flew down to feel her clothes. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the familiar fabric of her gown she had been wearing for the past couple days. 'At least he had the common sense to keep my clothes on.'

'I should probably get dressed anyway.'

The frock her body had been adorning was comfortable enough, but her waist was becoming uncomfortably sore.

She grabbed a bed post to help her up and walked the ten feet to her closet. She opened the door of the overly glamorous wardrobe and looked at her options. There was an abundance of gowns. Casual, frilly, lacy, colorful, floral, whatever she could imagine, it was there.

She scowled at her choices and slammed the door shut. She made her way to her bed and flopped down. Too much energy was exerted on trying to find something to wear. 'You know what, fuck it, I'm just going to wear pajamas.'

She slowly got up again and went to her slightly smaller closet, where her pajamas were kept. She opened the door and grabbed a black silk robe.

She didn't care much for the fabric, it reminded her of Sophie, but it was the only black option.

Agatha walked over to her bed, yet again, and threw the robe onto her covers. She quickly undressed herself and slipped the nightdress over her head. She bent down to pick up the discarded dress and walked it over to the laundry hamper.

The minimal amount of movements she chose did nothing to help with her exhaustion. She hadn't eaten in a while and that was taking a toll on her already fragile body. She also didn't remember the last time she had water. Suddenly she noticed the dryness of her throat. She walked over to her nightstand and furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed that a cup had already been filled. The thought Tedros being the one to fill it made her instantly not thirsty anymore, but because of the fact that she would probably pass out if she didn't drink any water, she grudgingly grabbed the cup and chugged it down.

A little bit spilled on her pajamas, but she hadn’t the will to care. She poured herself another glass and drank it as fast as she did the first time, ultimately spilling more water on herself, making the splotch bigger.

As she wiped her mouth, she sat down on her bed. She should still feel the warmth being emitted from where she was previously laying. The urge to lie back down was overwhelming, so she gave in, ignored her grumbling stomach, and fell back into dream land.

_**[タイムスキップ]** _

Carrying an exceptionally hot plate of pasta with bare hands up multiple flights of stairs was no easy task, but Tedros gritted his teeth and pushed aside his discomfort. This was the very least he could do for Agatha. Well not technically, he could have just left her in her room or actually not have ever gone to find her in the first place, but then he would feel even worse.

As he was walking, he had a bit of a realization. He already knew that if Agatha wanted, he would leave her alone, but not before thoroughly questioning her about her whereabouts on the days prior. Tedros was dumb, in the sense that he lacked common knowledge and sometimes horrible decision making skills, but on the occasion, he was perceptive.

He knew that on the day that Agatha had found him and Sophie in a bit of a tangle, she was in town and long enough to miss a meal. Knowing Agatha, she wouldn’t do that unless something important was holding her back. Also the timing for her to have walked in his room at the worst moment was unrealistic, usually at that time, she would be getting a bath drawn, or already heading to sleep. They weren’t on very good terms, so they hadn’t really had much communication after supper time.

This left him with the assumption that she had something to tell him. That was really the only option he could think of. He could admit that there were, at the end of the day, other things that she came to him for, but he felt so accomplished with the way he pieced everything together that he decided to ignore that thought.

For the rest of his expedition up the stairs, he tuned out his thoughts and focused on making it to Agatha’s room without tripping for spilling her noodles.

Eventually- after approximately ten minutes of narrowly avoiding any people in fear of dropping the plate- he spotted the familiar white door with gold encrusted swirls.

He visibly loosened his shoulders, let go of the agitation in his body, and relaxed his rigid muscles.

He started to smile, but that smile quite quickly slipped into a frown. How the hell was he going to open the door? Both of his hands were sporting the spaghetti dish and his feet were clad in socks, leaving nothing available to open the door. And it just had to be an unkeyed, passage knob too, how helpful.

He eyed the doorknob in disdain, contemplating just kicking it down.

He didn’t.

After a bit of consideration, he just used his shoulder to knock, under the presumption that Agatha would be awake and ready to open the door.

That was not the case.

After knocking as hard as he could without dropping the dish, he resorted to yelling through the door.

This worked.

After a couple of minutes of hissing through the crack in the door, it opened to a disoriented Agatha. When she saw that the reason she had been woken up was him, she scowled.

Tedros backed up a few steps for the fear that she might scratch him, and used the plate of pasta as a shield, covering his face.

He felt a weight be lifted off of his hands and looked up to see that Agatha had snatched the plate away from him. She looked him up and down, then begrudgingly beckoned for him to come inside, not sparing a second glance back.

He took that as a sign and hurriedly made his way in, closing the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [this is kind of a filler before i can write to my fullest extent. sorry for being unreliable, i’ve just been dealing with stress from school, and some previous personal problems. i hope you all had happy holidays and ill post as soon as i can!]


	9. finally, some common sense

As he followed her through the door, Tedros' felt his heartbeat quicken, his guilt coming back to him. He nervously swallowed the saliva that had been collecting in his mouth and looked up to Agatha.

Her gaze wasn't even on him, instead it was very aggressively on her pasta. It was only when she realized that Tedros still had her fork that she spared him so much as a glance.

She raised her eyebrows, reached out her hand, and made a grabbing motion, gesturing for him to give her the fork.

Tedros stood there for a second, his brain not comprehending the simple indication. The two of them were left in an awkward silence, eye contact still maintained.

"Okay, since obviously you don't understand what I'm doing, kindly pass me the damned fork."

Tedros blinked, snapping himself out of his stupor, and walked over to the edge of the bed where Agatha was residing, and promptly handed over the fork.

Agatha then focused all of her attention back to her pasta, completely ignoring Tedros' stare and presence as a whole.

And while he didn't completely mind, he wanted to get to the point- was she going to forgive him or ignore him? He knew that she would eventually cave in and hear him out, but he couldn't even estimate the amount of time it would take, she could hold a grudge like it was a professional sport.

He sincerely hoped that she would at least listen to his side of the story, maybe somewhat understand the way he was feeling in that moment- he wasn'texactly sure yet, but he would try his best to explain it. On the contrary, he didn't expect her to share her feelings about it. Agatha was one of those people who felt as if sharing feelings was a vulnerability, weakness, even, so he wouldn't feel too horrible if this ideology still applied to her.

As he was pondering the right words to say to her, he heard a distinct clink of metal against porcelain. He jumped back a bit, startled by the noise, and ogled at her. He had only been standing there for no more than five minutes.

"If you're gonna give me that look, feel free to walk right out of here." she remarked, rolling her eyes for what must have been the fiftieth time at him. "I haven't eaten in about two days, so shut up."

He hadn't even said anything.

"Uh.. sorry" he replied, completely wiping his face of any confound expression. The awkward silence was back. Tedros coughed, Agatha wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, yet no words were spoken.

"So I - " 

"Are you going to -"

Tedros cleared his throat, this was seemingly getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute. He decided step up and be the one to start the conversation.

"As I was trying to say before you interrupted me-"he was cut off by Agatha scowling and glaring at him. Tedros internally winced and tried to think of a way to re-word his speech without sounding rude in the slightest.

"Um, that came out wrong, I'm sorry." He looked up to an approving glance, not necessarily nice, but it gave him the confidence to continue. "what I was trying to say was that I'm sorry."

"For what?" Agatha sneered, arms crossed. She wasn't going to crumble this time, she had her moment of weakness and now that she refueled her body, she felt better. Physically and, most importantly, emotionally.

The start of their exchange was eerily similar to the one spoken hours earlier. Hopefully this one would have a better outcome.

After briefly thinking it over, the blonde said, "For pushing you away when we came here and for making a decision that wasn't thought through, and for making you feel unappreciated and like it was your fault." and he truly meant it. This time, unlike the last, he didn't think that his apology was worthy of even her consideration, there was so much more that he wanted to say that he simply couldn't, he just could not put the right words to his feelings.

In spite of his doubtful thinking, he looked over at her to see her face start to relax, her arms unfolding themselves. She looked at ease.

She was still slightly glowering, but it looked less intense than it had been before. He took this as a sign to keep talking.

"I know that I'm not the best with words and I have so much I've been meaning to say but..." He started to chew on the inside of his lip, looking upwards.

" _It's okay._ "

He looked to where the noise had come from and saw a weak smile making its way on to Agatha's face. He was more confused than relieved. Agatha wasn't one to forgive to easily and for her to cave in so quickly to his apology was suspicious.

"I get that you have trouble with saying things and its fine, I'm not going to make you do something that you clearly don't want to." She said, her smile looking more like a grimace.

That's not he was trying to convey to her. He realized, almost too late, what he had to do.

He had to really show her that he cared and trusted her, he couldn't just spout random nonsense, he had to make clear that he loved her. He couldn't just expect her to start being herself around him again after he had been the one to ignore her for weeks on end.

He had to put his feelings to words.

He felt completely helpless and frustrated at this moment. He hadn't fully trusted anybody after his father's death- maybe even before, around the time that his mother left along with his wizard confidant. He hadn't expressed this level of faith in anybody in a very long time and now he knew that he had to.

A part of him had wanted someone like this for a long time, he wanted someone to rely on without judgement and vice versa. It just took him a while to realize that he already had her.

He took a deep breath and steeled himself for whatever may happen.

His glossy eyes seemed to stare right into Agatha's soul as he spoke once again, his voice transformed from a semi-confident tone to a now quiet one with a sense of urgency.

"I love you. It's as simple as that. I want- no, _need_ you to really understand this." He didn't look to her and instead kept his eyes firmly planted on his feet.

"Almost my whole life I've had no one to rely on and I've never been comfortable with who I am, on the inside, not the phony persona I have been advertising to people, not the confident, cocky heir to the throne of the most well known kingdom, but me. The one who doesn't know how to communicate to people and is scared to get too attached because I've been left alone too many times." He frantically gestured with his hands, trying to get this over with as soon as he could.

He swallowed.

"I, one thousand percent, do not know why I kissed Sophie, I really don't, and I'm not going to make up a bullshit reason to justify it, I want to be honest with you from here on out." He ran his hands through his hair. "It felt weird and I immediately regret it, but that doesn't mean that I'm off the hook. I understand if you need a break, but please don't leave me." His voice broke.

"Please don't go, I don't think I can live without you." That's when his feelings unleashed themselves from his control.

He stumbled a bit, sobs racking his body. He couldn't get the image of Agatha leaving him, just like his mom, out of his head. He knew that this time, like the last, it would be entirely his fault if she decided to leave. He pounded his hands against his head, practically begging his emotions to recede.

He was too caught up in his embarrassment of crying in front of Agatha that he didn't notice a cold presence lean into him, wrapping its limbs around him.

He wiped his eyes to see Agatha barely standing on her own, comforting him. She had tear droplets streaming down her face as well.

" _I'm not going to leave_."

And as the words easily flowed from her mouth, she knew, that was a promise she couldn’t keep.


	10. inevitable symptoms

Hey, I'm back from hiatus and a bit ashamed to give such a short chapter, but with midterms and such, I have been extremely busy. Seeing as I actually have been feeling more motivated at of late, I hope to establish a periodic update schedule. Anyway, enough about this, I hope y'all like this filler <3

On his way back to his room, Tedros pondered the incident that had just taken place. He felt like the burden of his trapped feelings had been taken away, yet there was still that prickling feeling of missing something he should have already pieced together.

He, once again, just played it off as anxious nerves, even when he knew that there was something deeper.

Eventually he made it to his room. After tidying up, brushing his teeth and whatnot, he reluctantly turned off his lamp and fell asleep.

Agatha on the other hand spent the night gnawing at her fingernails, guilt noticeable on her every feature. In spite of her determination to tell Tedros about her little problem earlier, she hadn't the courage, so she had bid him a good night and closed her door suspiciously quickly.

Insomnia.

She knew that her disease was quick moving and her symptoms would soon come to light, but that didn't mean she was prepared. That didn't find it odd at first, she had slept a bit earlier, so that could have hindered her ability to sleep, but after a while, she noticed that even while extremely tired, she couldn't doze off.

Soon, but not enough, morning came. Agatha noticed the glass and crystal items in her room giving off a very faint glow, projecting onto her walls. She looked to the window to see the tiniest sliver of sun peaking through and for the first time that night, gave a hint of a grin.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she recalled that she had not been up early enough to see the sunrise in quite a while, so she slowly got out of her comforting warmth and put her slippers on. She could have just gone out to her windows balcony, but for some unknown reason, she decided to give her koi fish some company.

Quietly, she slipped out of her room and made her way around the castles winding halls and down to the kitchens back door. From there, she went down the familiar stone steps, to the koi pond. 

There, waiting for her, was a quaint little stone bench to which she made her way over.

After making herself comfortable, she cast her eyes to the steadily rising sun. She wasn't really one to enjoy the scenery, but in this moment, it felt right. Peaceful.

In this moment, she wouldn't have cared if she passed. She was at ease.

Of course these thoughts weren't rational, she hadn't even wrapped her head around not being in the world anymore, but it was a nice break from the unrelenting, guilty mindset.

She watched as the strands of pink and yellow made their way across the sky and established their place there. She felt the cold morning breeze mess with her hair and watched as it made ripples in the pond.

' _I should really come out here more often_.'

She should have known that her intrusive thoughts wouldn't be kept at bay for long. As her mind wandered, she began thinking about how people would react to her dying.

It's sad to imagine that she couldn't think of one person who would care. Her mom was dead, her lover cheated on her, her best friend had been the one who he cheated with, her grandmotherly figure was dead, her classmates were off doing god knows what, her father figure was dead, her mentor was MIA, and any other major adult figures were dead.

So in conclusion, everyone is dead.

And soon she would be also. Maybe she was better off that way. 

Unfortunately this was another symptom. A deteriorating mental state.

Healthy Agatha would look back on these thoughts and recoil, but she was no where to be found.

Present Agatha knew that it was futile to ignore her mind completely, so she tried to distract herself by skipping stones. She made sure not to hit the fish, that in itself was difficult as she could barely even make the rock skip more than twice. After minutes and minutes have passed, she finally got into her groove and had even made a little game for herself.

She was so consumed in this activity that she barely registered the atmosphere growing hotter. It was only when she felt her head spin that she peeked up at the sky.

It was around mid-morning, breakfast time, but unusually for her, she didn't have any appetite.

She decided that she was going to head inside anyway. She needed to at least change out of her pajamas for she decided that she was going to attempt to have a productive day.

With that replacing her previous thoughts, she set off towards the castle.

Maybe if she hadn't been so preoccupied, she would have felt a pair of eyes watching her every step.


End file.
